Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: V.1 Sasshi, I don't think we're in Osaku anymore! (ep.1-4)

If I had to describe "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi," it would be simple: "Fooly Cooly" as written by Lewis Carroll.

That's only a glimpse of the explosive weirdness and insanely cracked-out madness that fills every episode of this wacky anime series. And while "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi Volume 1" starts off a bit slowly, the first five episodes of this series soon blossom into an acid-tripping flower filled with constant spoofs, genre cliches, and lots of fanservicey breasts.

Sasshi is unhappy -- the Abenobashi Shopping Arcade is being bought out for demolition, and his friend Arumi is going to be moving away. Fortunately they are distracted from their impending separation by a series of mysterious animal statues all throughout the Arcade.

But when Arumi's grandfather is badly injured and the bird statue is smashed, Arumi and Sasshi find themselves sucked into a freaky D&D-video-game-esque fantasy land, where they are called upon to defeat the stereotypically Evil Lord. Unfortunately, Arumi spends all their money on a mysterious charm by a blue-haired sorcerer, and Sasshi keeps getting killed by the insane, scantily-clad Mune Mune.

Each attempt to get back home sends Sasshi and Arumi to another cracked-out variant of Abenobashi -- a space station where they must pilot a mystical mecha to save the universe (and Arumi's stolen panties), a Chinese Abenobashi where Sasshi is given the ultimate martial-arts training (and the "Suit That Makes You Feel Stronger!") and finally to a highly anachronistic dinosaur age, where he and Sasshi must save a little triceratops from Sasshi's power-hungry whip-wielding sister.

And through every world, they encounter Mune-Mune and the blue-haired "mister" Eutus -- as well as deranged versions of their own families. Who are these people? What's with the goblins? Why does it all center on the Arcade? And what does all this have to do with Sasshi's grandmother?

"Neon Genesis Evangelion," martial-arts, "Dragonball Z," medieval S&S fantasy, shouted attack names, dinosaurs, and even "2001: A Space Odyssey" ("See, it's a monolith! If you touch it, you're supposed to get smarter!" "Great, you're devolvin' now"). All of these get spoofed and/or lovingly homaged in the first five episodes, until the stories are so crammed with goodhearted mockery that there's no real need for an original plot.

The first episode is a bit on the slow side, since much of it is about setting up Sasshi's problems and the Harmony of the Four Gods. But once they see dancing mushrooms, all bets are off -- we get endless fanservice (Mune Mune's mostly-nude getups), repeated deaths ("I saw the beginnin' and the end of the UNIVERSE!"), and plots full of random and inexplicable twists ("I don't understand! Why am I a dumpling?" Sasshi moans after getting encased in a dumpling and sent off the top of a skyscraper).

The biggest problem with the story? Well, it's a bit distracting at first to hear everyone talking in Southern accents (which substitute for Osaka accents, just to show that there IS an accent). Fortunately you get used to it pretty quickly.

Sasshi makes a good hero for this series -- he's a die-hard geek who quickly learns to enjoy the weirdness, because he knows how the various tropes work (Mystical mecha! Magical items! Martial-arts!). Sometimes it requires a little suffering, though -- such as being forced to undergo "the training" with a panda. Arumi is a good counterpoint, a more down-to-earth type who discovers just how weird these spoofs can be, while Eutus is a fun oddity -- a sorcerer having a midlife crisis.

The first volume of "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" is a wild, tripped-out ride that answers no questions about the source of the strangeness, but does a brilliant job with gutsplitting parodies.

I loved this DVD mainly because Sasshi is very funny and Arumi is so mature for her age. The whole story behind this series is about two 12 year old kids who have been best friends for a long time are moving apart. But when someting goes wrong within their shopping area Abenobashi just turns into so wacky virtual reality place.

The whole show to me seems like a video game that they have to learn how to get out of.

Gainax does it again with another dizzying comedy very much in the spirit of FLCL. However, Gainax is not the type of studio to simply repeat the same thing over and over, and as such Abenobashi clearly stands on its own two legs.

First off, I'll speak of the art. Abenobashi is done in a bright, visually pleasing style very similar to the animation of FLCL, Gainax's other recent comedy series. It is high quality, and the dizzying animation style keeps pace with the equally dizzying storyline to leave your head spinning.

Second, the characters. Sasshi and Arumi, the two main characters, make for a cute couple, and their constantly-at-odds personalities provide a great deal of the humor of the series. In general, the characters are all quirky, bizarre, and interesting, from the town transvestite to the improbably-busty Mune-Mune.

Third, the music. I'm not sure I'd really call it quality music, but the quirky tunes fit well with the show. It's not as outstanding a match as the Pillows with FLCL, but it's far from bad. I found the opening song rather endearing, despite its preponderance of badly-pronounced English.

Fourth, the voice acting. Someone at Gainax seems to have a thing for regional dialects and odd pronunciations. The vast majority of the characters in the series speak in Osaka-ben, which is part of its charm. I wouldn't recommend watching this series dubbed, as the Osaka dialect is transfigured into an irritatingly fake-sounding Texas accent. Again, I can't say that the voice acting in the series quite lives up to the wonder that was FLCL, but it's definitely a cut above average.

Lastly, some general comments. The overall trend of the series seems to be that each episode the two main characters -- Sasshi and Arumi -- find themselves in a new alternate universe version of their home, the Abenobashi shopping arcade. The alternate universes are not so much alternate in the sense of Sliders, as each is a representation of a particular genre or cliche -- with its own 'rules' of reality based upon that. For example, the second episode is based upon fantasy rpgs (such as the older Final Fantasy games), while the second is a mish-mash of science fiction and mecha anime.

The stabs at the convention of each genre are witty and genuinely funny, and this is one of many shows that makes many of its jokes by parodying other anime. Interestingly, Abenobashi unabashedly parodies other anime by Gainax, at one point going so far as to play one of the songs from the show Neon Genesis Evangelion. I think it was at this point that I fell in love with the series. It takes a great sense of humor to be able to make fun of oneself so completely and effectively.

The one serious drawback I can see with this series is that I'm not sure that the conventions and pace that it has set itself can last thirteen episodes without becoming tired and boring. Hopefully at some point the series will break the format which it has presented itself in in order to remain fresh and interesting. If the problem isn't addressed, however, I can see how the latter end of the series could be rather disappointing.

Over all, I must say that I was very impressed with this series. Every time Gainax steps up to the plate, they hit the ball.